October 25, 2017

FCC moves to kill local broadcasting, local news

Bloomberg - Regulators eliminated a nearly 80-year-old requirement for TV and radio stations to maintain a main studio in or near the communities they serve, a step that broadcasters welcomed as trimming unneeded rules and critics called a step toward homogenized programming.

The rule is no longer needed to keep stations in touch with their communities, since email and social media have replaced visits to a studio, supporters of the change say. The Federal Communications Commission voted  to eliminate the rule adopted in 1939.

“This rule is unnecessary; most consumers get in touch with stations over the phone or through electronic means,” Republican Chairman Ajit Pai said in an online posting ahead of the vote. Stations can produce local news without a nearby studio, and the rule can impose “major costs” on broadcasters, Pai said.

Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said the agency with its vote is “paving the way for broadcast station groups, large and small, to terminate studio staff and abandon the communities they are obligated to serve.”

1 comment:

Bill Hicks said...

I haven't watched a local news broadcast in 20 years--they are a joke. All fear mongering crime stories, feel good fluff stories and regurgitation of partisan talking points. They stop serving their communities a LONG time ago.